


When The Day Met The Night

by anonniemoose



Series: SPN OneShots [18]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Based On A Panic! At The Disco Song, Chuck Lives, Depression, F/M, Homelessness, Mental Health Issues, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, When the Day Met the Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 12:16:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16062959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonniemoose/pseuds/anonniemoose
Summary: **WINNER OF MAICONS 2018 FANFIC CONTEST FOR BEST WRITTEN**Gabriel hasn't been the same since escaping the apocalypse world, who would blame him? But he didn't expect someone's eyes to save him in the middle of summer.





	When The Day Met The Night

**Author's Note:**

> I won a contest with this omg i'm so happy I decided to post it! I was umming and ahhing for weeks if I should post it and this confirmed it! I hope you enjoy and as always requests are open here or via tumblr (crowleys-poppet-queen-of-assgard)!

Gabriel’s escape from Asmodeus was, in a word, freeing. He wasn’t held down by the fear of the Evil Cornel Saunders’ finding, torturing and, inevitably, killing him from over extracting his Grace for his own use. Murdering Loki and his sons was a relief, all connections to his past life cut, burnt, destroyed. Even though his Grace was limited and was taking its time repairing itself, he felt more alive than ever once he returned from Apocalypse World. True, the fact that he was physically exhausted and had the emotional range of a burnt-out toaster, but for the first time in a long time, he could breathe without worry.  
He needed a break, from the hunting and the hiding, and sunny California was calling his name.  
He had to take the long way there, trusting his precious life in the hands of a stranger he had never met before. Sure, he could have asked Cassidy for help, but the expectation of having to stay and ‘fight the good fight’, as it were, was encouragement enough to not contact his younger brother. So, on the plane he went from freezing Canada where he ended up during his escape, to the city of glitz and glam and movie stars.  
That was three weeks ago, and he had been in hot-as-balls L.A. ever since. L.A. was busy, fun, hot, beautiful. Everything he wanted. But there was still one problem.  
He couldn’t get rid of this feeling of being empty.  
He felt nothing. No emotion, no energy, nothing. He had next to no energy and spent most of his day laying on the couch he managed to nick on collection day that wasn’t in half-bad shape, and the time he didn’t spend sleeping, he spent staring at the walls.  
He could feel that he was slowly going insane, trapped with nothing but his thoughts and the four walls of the rundown flat he was squatting in.  
He gave up praying two weeks ago, he spent over a thousand years praying to his Father to receive no answer, what was the point of continuing only to be reached with nothing. He sat in silence the day he stopped praying and hasn’t spoken a word since. His Grace had dwindled away into nothing. The hope of it slowly repairing itself became non-existent when he realised that he was beginning to grow hungry, tired and smelly. The attempt to snap a hotel room with everything he needed went poorly, ending in the near death of his lovely self, and he refused to try again, slowly feeling the little power he had left fade away into nothing. He had used all of his money on that blasted plane ticket, and resorted to begging for food for the first week of his being here, but now? He had no energy or inclination to beg, or even eat.  
Today started like any other. Waking up to feel the couch moving with, no doubt, the numerous amount of bugs that co-inhabit his one ‘luxury’ item. He stared at the ceiling, had a nap, stared at the wall with the door, had a nap, stared at the wall with the mould circle that was quickly growing and taking over the majority of the wall, have a nap, stare out the window. By two, he was still exhausted, and didn’t want to move an inch. He smelt, probably looked like hell, and (to be completely honest) he just didn’t give a fuck anymore. He’d rather starve looking like shit and smelling even worse than deal with anything.  
So, how he ended up here was a mystery. No, literally. He had no idea how he got here. One second, he was staring out the window as the sun started to make its slow descent down the sky and the next he was sitting in a bus stop, clean, clothed, shaved. Decent. Upon inspection, he found cash in his pockets.  
His stomach growls in protest as he stands to wander back over to his small hole-in-the-wall.  
He supposed food was probably a good idea, he was already outside and he was spared from begging and the abuse that followed suit. As much as he hated life, he didn’t want to end up in the Empty, Hell or, worse, Heaven.   
‘Food it is’, he decides as he begins his slow but steady shuffle into the city.  
~~~  
It was just past four in the afternoon when you were finally released from your seminars, but you were exhausted and hungry. Being a psychologist was amazing, but the educational days were always something that you could do without. The information was important and interesting; but keeping focused on the same lady with the monotone voice from 8-4 for three days straight was, to say the least, difficult.  
Still, you were free now and that’s all that mattered. Possibly the best thing about the seminars was how close it was to your favourite outdoor café, and nothing sounded better than to be there with the next book of the new series you had been devouring in an attempt to keep your mind from slowing down.  
Summer was hard on you, having Seasonal Depression made things difficult during Summer and Spring, and the middle of July was the worst. Your brain was slow and sluggish, you had next to no energy and your life was basically sleep, work and, on occasion, eat.  
Some would find it amusing, a psychologist with depression. If anything, having mental illness made your job easier. But it also made it harder, you struggled to take care of yourself and you could see the hypocrisy in helping others when you could barely help yourself.  
The café was one way you used to help combat your illness. It got you out of the house and it was a basic form of self-care that involved basic hygiene, food, drink and relaxation, something you knew you needed to focus on.  
The palm trees that surrounded the garden that the café was in kept you reasonably cool in L.A’s ridiculous heat, cool enough to enjoy a pot of tea, a blend unique to this small business. Rather than focus on your book, you decided to focus on your second favourite hobby. People watching.  
There was something about people’s quirks and ways of socialising that you found particularly interesting. Perhaps the fact you had struggled to communicate with others growing up made it more of a studying guide than anything else, but even as an adult, it was still your favourite way to pass time.  
People were curious things, saying things when actually meaning the other, but you could always tell. Everyone had their tell, be it their nose scrunching or scratching their forehead, you could always tell when someone was lying. Or when someone was presenting as something they weren’t.  
For the most part, today’s crowd was pretty boring. People going home from work or rushing around to do their last-minute shopping for the week, normal things. No need to lie. There was that one woman who was having three affairs, if not more, but that was from eavesdropping, not from deduction.  
There was this one man though. He looked put together, hair wavy and shiny with a smile that would stop anyone in their tracks, but when you looked into his eyes and as your heart skipped a beat, you could tell he was barely hanging on.  
Perhaps you were projecting your issues onto him, but he looked just as lost, confused and as down as you were. He was thin and looked half-starved as he entered the café, causing you to wonder the last time he actually ate. You could feel your unease as he approaches your table with the same heart-stealing, panty-dropping smile he had been wearing all afternoon.  
“Hello.” You blink before sending him a small smile.  
“Hi.” Was your basic reply. “Would you like a seat?” You indicate to the chair opposite you, it wasn’t unusual to share tables here when the place was packed, as it so often is. Without hesitation, he sits with a small ‘thunk’. “Can I help you with something?”  
“Would it be all right if we just sat and talked for a little while, if in exchange for your time, I give you this smile?”   
~~~  
Gabriel didn’t know what his Dad was playing at when he saw the girl underneath the large, green trees, observing the world go by whilst holding onto a find china cup. It had to be his Dad’s interference, there was no other reason for him to be drawn to a random girl. No, his Dad had been interfering again.  
But, for some reason, he didn’t seem to mind.  
There was something about her eyes that caused his mind to calm, almost save him from himself. And if that was the reason he was meant to meet her, then he was ok with that too.  
She hums. “I suppose that’s acceptable payment.” She teases. “I’m Y/N.”  
“Gabriel.”  
So, began the flirting and the chatting that lasted for hours. He found out that she, too, suffered from poor mental health, specifically in the summer. He found out about her life and he, in turn, told her about his life, although slightly altered because, you know, monsters and stuff.  
Was it possible to fall in love within a matter of a few hours? He was beginning to think so, after only three hours taking to her, he didn’t want to leave her side. Perhaps the old wives tale of soulmates had more merit than he originally thought.  
The conversation didn’t end when they were kicked out of the café at 8, instead they went to the takeaway and wandered along the streets until 10, talking about anything and everything.  
It was like she was the sun and he was the moon, she brought brightness out of him that he hadn’t felt since before he escaped from Heaven centuries ago. There was one thing he knew for certain, he didn’t want to let go of this feeing.  
~~~  
There was something about him that made you feel something you had never felt before. It was like he was day and you were night, he brought back the light and the sun to what always felt like an eternity of darkness and cold. He brought warmth and happiness, almost as if the two of you were meant for each other. By the end of the night, you had possibly laughed harder and longer than any other time in your life and, for the first time, felt whole.  
You could tell he wasn’t 100% honest about some things, like his family, but you weren’t going to push. It wasn’t like you were 100% honest about yourself, like what you did for work or your more….questionable hobbies.  
By the end of the night, you had gotten more and more cheeky and he had become more and more flirtatious. Was it possible to fall in love in one night, in the middle of summer? You were beginning to think so.  
But, it was almost time for the night to end, you did, after all, have work in the morning. Gabriel seemed to know this too as you began to stroll back to the base of your apartment block.  
“Would you like to meet up again, tomorrow maybe?” You could see the panic reach his eyes before you can answer. “Unless you don’t want to-”  
“Hey, hey.” You smile softly. “It’s okay, I’d love to meet up with you again. Tomorrow is perfect.”  
He stalls for a moment. “I’m sorry, a lot has happened and its….taken a blow to my self-confidence.” You hum with a small smile.  
“That’s okay. As long as you can make a promise not to break my heart and leave me all alone in the summer.” You tease gently as he laughs lightly.  
“I promise, only if you promise not to break my heart and leave me alone in the winter.”  
“Well, that leaves spring and fall.”  
“I guess they can be free-for-all, after all, we may need a break from each other.”  
~~~  
Over on the other side of America, Chuck lets out a small sigh of relief. Out of all of his children, Gabriel was the one who suffered the most in recent years and was going to suffer a lot more over the next few decades if Chuck gave him back his Grace. The angel race was dying out and the use of a fully powered archangel would be catastrophic, most likely ending in Gabriel’s death. So, he pushed him in the right direction, towards Y/N. He knew that they’d help each other out of the hell hole they were both in now, and it would keep his son safe. And at the end of the day, that’s all a father wants of his children.  
Still, he knows they will always remember the time when day met the night.


End file.
